Kommersant: Russian poultry farms are faced with a shortage of personnel

Domestic poultry farms are experiencing a shortage of workers, writes Kommersant, citing a letter from Sinyavinskaya, the largest egg producer, and experts’ data.

In its letter, the company warned retailers about the risks of changing the shipment schedule and canceling some orders due to a massive outflow of personnel, in particular migrants. In total, the shortage of personnel “Sinyavinskaya” estimated at 25-30%. The company itself and large retailers did not comment on this letter to the newspaper, but the general director of the Roskar poultry farm, Roman Smirnov, also noted the shortage of foreign workers due to the weakening of the ruble.

The outflow of migrants was also noted by the General Director of the National Union of Beef Producers Roman Kostyuk. At the same time, the president of Agrifood Strategies, Albert Davleev, pointing to a shortage of 10–25% of workers at large processors, emphasizes that the share of foreign workers in the agricultural industry does not exceed 15%. He connected the current situation with the shortage of personnel with internal migration and the seasonal factor.

Elena Artemyeva, director of analytics and data science at the Rabota.ru service, in turn noted that the number of vacancies in the agricultural industry in July was 18% higher than in July 2022, but the share of active resumes grew only by 2%, which is evidence of an acute shortage of personnel. According to her, its formation was influenced by the growing popularity of part-time employment, as well as demographic problems.

At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture stated that they constantly monitor the provision of enterprises with personnel and material and technical resources, and poultry farms show a steady growth in production.

As Vedomosti wrote earlier, due to the weakening of the ruble, up to a third of labor migrants may leave Russia. According to the head of the Uzbek diaspora in Moscow, Bakhrom Ismailov, due to the growth of the dollar, the earnings of foreign citizens in Russia are declining and are becoming more and more comparable to incomes at home. He suggests that the outflow of labor migrants is primarily likely in the least paid areas – retail, catering, cleaning, catering, courier delivery, agriculture, etc.

Migration expert Vadim Kozhenov, in turn, said that not all migrants go to Russia just to earn money. In his opinion, due to the weakening of the ruble, there may indeed be an outflow of foreign labor, but it will not exceed the share of 10% of the current number of migrants working in Russia.